Liverpool
FC

Liverpool FC - Introduction

Liverpool is one of the
most famous football clubs in the World. It has a rich and varied history
that has brought tremendous success on the pitch but has also been touched
by tragedy and sadness. Eighteen League titles and five European Cup &
Champions League triumphs are a cherished part of the history of the Merseyside
club. But then too the events of the Heysel Stadium and Hillsborough are
unforgotten human tragedies embedded in the fabric of Liverpool FC.

Liverpool FC History

Liverpool FC is a scion
of Everton FC. Following a dispute within the Everton club Liverpool FC
came into existence in 1892 without any players but with an international
standard football ground at Anfield Road. The club owner John Holding
appointed Monaghan man John McKenna as director of football. McKenna travelled
to Scotland and recruited 13 Scotsmen. In Liverpool the team became known
as 'the team of the Macs'.

This team won it's first
match against Rotherham Town 7-1 with the first ever Liverpool FC goal
scored by Malcolm McVean. Liverpool finished the season as champions of
the Lancashire League. In the first Merseyside derby Liverpool beat Everton
on 22 April 1893 at Hawthorne Road in the Liverpool Senior Cup.

Liverpool and Woolwich
Arsenal were elected to the Second Division of the Football League and
the Merseysiders won that league, and promotion, without losing a match
in the following season. Unfortunately the club was relegated back to
the Second Division after just one season.

In a move reminiscent of
the more recent failed experiment of employing joint managers (Evans &
Houllier in 1998) Houlding appointed William Barclay alongside McKenna
to look after team affairs. This worked much better than the later incarnation.

Liverpool FC Adopts Red Strip & Spion
Kop

Tom Watson became the manager
of Liverpool in July 1896 and remained in the role until the outbreak
of the First World War. Liverpool, who had originally worn blue jerseys

switched to red jerseys
under Watson. Earlier John McKenna had initiated the building of a large
cinder bank behind the south goal. Following the loss of many soldiers
from Liverpool in the Lancashire Regiment during the Boer War, this vantage
point was called the Spion Kop. Watson delivered the first two of Liverpool
FC's League titles in the 1900/01 and 1905/06 seasons.

World War I interrupts Liverpool FC's
Development

Liverpool's pursuit of
football greatness was halted by the outbreak on the First World War in
1914. Liverpool recruited Irishman David Ashworth form Oldham Athletic
to manage the team. Using a blend of experience and youth he delivered
the third League title to Merseyside in the 1921/22 season. About half
way through the 1922/23 season Ashworth made the surprise decision to
return to manage Oldham. His timing was strange in that it was just a
few days before the two teams met in back-to-back League ties.

Matt McQueen took over
in a caretaker capacity and helped Liverpool to retain the First Division
title. He went on to manage the club until February 1928 but did not deliver
any further major honours. Matt McQueen was in charge of Liverpool for
a total of 229 matches and won 93, lost 76, and drew 60.

Liverpool FC's Long Wait for Next League
Title

McQueen was replaced by
George Patterson who had performed various roles within the club over
a number of years. Not a lot of note happened during his eight year term
as manager of Liverpool - no titles, no silverware, and no relegations.
Patterson stepped down in August 1936 largely due to poor health.

Manchester born George
Kay took up the reins from Patterson and was Liverpool FC manager for
more than 14 years - albeit his term was severely interrupted by WW II.
Two of Kay's signings as manager were highly significant in the history
of Liverpool FC - Billy Liddell and Bob Paisley. Kay had not made any
great waves in the League or Cup in the period leading up to the war.
Following the war he took his playing squad on a ten match, one month,
tour to the USA. He believed that as the US had not been as badly affected
by food rationing he could use the opportunity build up his team physically
in preparation for the forthcoming season. His tactics seem to have worked
as Liverpool took the 1946/47 League title, their fifth, by a single point
from Manchester United and
Wolverhampton Wanderers. Kay resigned in January 1951 for health reasons

Liverpool
FC Fire a Manager for the First Time

Another Mancunian replaced
Kay as Liverpool appointed former wartime guest player Don Welsh. It was
not an inspired appointment and despite some fantastic performances by
Billy Liddell Liverpool slid to bottom of the League and into relegation
to the Second Division. In the following season Liverpool finished in
11th position suffering 16 defeats including a 9-1 drubbing at Birmingham
City. In May 1956 Don Welsh became the first manager in Liverpool's history
to be fired as the board lost patience.

Bill Shankly is Appointed as Manager
of Liverpool FC

In May 1956 Welsh was replaced
by former English schoolboy international Phil Taylor who would become
the only Liverpool manager to never manage in the First Division. Taylor
was a former Liverpool and had worked as a part of the coaching staff.
Unable to achieve promotion back into the First Division 'nice guy' Taylor
resigned as manager of Liverpool. His replacement would bring about a
revolution at Anfield.

From Genbuck in Scotland
Bill Shankly became the manager of Liverpool FC on the 1st of May 1959.
Shankly was a hugely ambitious manager and in club chairman Tom 'TV' Williams
he found matching ambition.

Liverpool finished in third
place in Shankly's first full season in charge. Following this he made
to important acquisitions when he bought Ian St John from Motherwell for
£37,500 and Ron Yeats from Dundee United for £22,000. The
following season Liverpool won promotion as champions of the Second Division.

Just two seasons later
Bill Shankly had delivered the first major honour for the Reds since 1947.
More than that he was creating a type of English footballing dynasty that
would last for more than 25 years. In the following year he led Liverpool
out at Wembley to win the first FA Cup in the

history of the club, with
a 2-1 victory over Leeds United. He also made an impact in the European
Cup as Liverpool narrowly failed to make the final that year. Before Bill
Shankly retired as Liverpool manager he led the club to two more League
titles and another FA Cup win. Most importantly his vision and abilities
had turned a Second Division club into a powerhouse of English football
and was now well equipped to go on to conquer Europe. Shankly retired
in July 1974.

Liverpool FC History - The Bob Paisley
Era

Most Liverpool fans were
concerned when Shanks retired. How could anyone replace such a genius?
Shankly had recommended to the the club's directors that they look within
the club for his successor. A former Liverpool player Bob Paisley was
somewhat reluctant when first approached to take up the role. Under some
pressure from within the club that he had been with since 1939, Paisley
agreed to become the manager of Liverpool FC.

Despite Paisley's initial
reluctance and a relatively poor season in his first year in charge Bob
Paisley would become the greatest ever manager in the history of Liverpool
Football Club. Following that first barren year Paisley and Liverpool
went on to win major trophies in each of his next eight seasons with the
club. In an amazing sequence of successes Paisley won six League titles,
three European Cups, three League Cups, and one UEFA Cup. The only blemish,
if it can even be called that, on his managerial record is that he did
not win the FA Cup although Liverpool did make the final in 1977. The
Merseysiders lost 2-1 to Manchester United. Bob Paisley retired in 1983
with an unprecedented record of success and is a true Red legend.

Liverpool FC History - The Joe Fagan
Era

Joe Fagan had been Bob
Paisley's right-hand man and, not willing to mess with a winning formula
the, Liverpool board appointed the Scouser as club manager in the Summer
of 1983. Fagan had indicated that he would only stay in the job for two
seasons. Hi first season could hardly have been more successful as he
became the first British manager in history to win three major trophies
in a single season. Liverpool scooped the League, the League Cup, and
the European Cup as the Reds beat Roma in the final in Rome.

Heysel Stadium Disaster - A Black Mark
on the History of Liverpool FC

Fagan drew a blank in the
following season having come second in the League to Merseyside rivals
Everton. Despite this Liverpool FC still had yet another European Cup
final to look forward to. The final was being staged in the Heysel Stadium
in Brussels and European football fans were relishing the meeting of two
of the football powerhouses of the continent. In the Heysel Stadium rioting
Liverpool fans caused panic and a stampede amongst Juventus fans ensued.
In a truly appalling scene 39 fans, mostly Italian, were crushed as barriers
and then a wall collapsed under the pressure. Despite the loss of life
UEFA officials decided that the match should go ahead. In a bizarre atmosphere
the teams played out a lack lustre match which Juventus won 1-0 courtesy
of a Michel Platini goal. A tragic end to a short but glittering managerial
career for Joe Fagan

Liverpool Legend Kenny Dalglish Becomes
Player Manager

In the summer of 1985 Kenny
Dalglish became the first player-manager in the modern game. Yet again
Liverpool FC had replaced the manager from within the club. Once again
it was an inspired choice. Following the catastrophic events in the Heysel
Stadium all English clubs had been banned from European competition. This
allowed Kenny Dalglish to concentrate on the domestic competitions. In
his first season Dalglish and Liverpool FC won the domestic double of
League and FA Cup. This was a first in Liverpool's history. In the following
four seasons Dalglish's Liverpool won two more League titles and a further
FA Cup.

On 21 February 1991 Kenny
Dalglish dropped a bombshell by announcing his resignation as the manager
of Liverpool FC. It was a bombshell because the Anfield club was leading
the First Division and Liverpool and Everton had played out a pulsating
4-4 draw fifth round FA Cup the evening before his announcement. Dalglish
cited the stress of the job as the reason why he had decided to resign.

Liverpool FC History - The Hillsborough
Tragedy

During Kenny Dalglish's
term as manager of Liverpool FC had been drawn to play Nottingham Forest
on the 15 April 1989 in the FA Cup semi final at Hillsborough, Sheffield
Wednesday's home ground. As the match kicked off there were thousands
of fans still outside the ground trying to gain access. The Liverpool
fans had been allocated the Leppings Lane end of the ground. In those
days the terraces are all-standing and the fans were fenced in to keep
them off the football pitch. The fans outside the ground knew that the
match had already started and the crush to get into Hillsborough intensified.
To alleviate this, decisions were made that meant far more people were
given access to areas of the terrace than was safe, and with tragic consequences.
Five minutes into the match the officials and players realised that there
was something seriously wrong and the referee ordered the players to the
dressing rooms. The crush on terrace reached critical proportions as the
fans continued to flood in and more than 700 people were injured. Ninety-six
of these were fatally injured.

Graeme Souness Becomes Manager of Liverpool
FC

With something of a break
with tradition Liverpool appointed Graeme Souness to replace Kenny Dalglish
as manager of the Reds in April 1991. It was an unhappy return to the
cub that he had played so well for as a midfield general. He tried to
change an ageing team too quickly and let some players such as Steve
Staunton and Ray Houghton
go prematurely. Some of his purchases were not of a Liverpool Football
Club standard. During his time as manager Souness also suffered some heart
problems and had to undergo by-pass surgery. He made a major error of
judgement by selling his health-scare story to the Sun newspaper. To many
on Merseyside the Sun was hated because of some of it's coverage of the
Hillsborough disaster. Despite winning the FA Cup in 1992 the writing
was on the wall for Graeme Souness and he resigned at the end of January
1994. His games-won ratio of 41% was the worst since the Don Welsh era
of Liverpool FC's history.

Liverpool FC Return to Joint Managers

Roy Evans from Bootle took
up the reins at Anfield following the departure of Souness. He had played
briefly for the club and he had been working as part of the back room
staff at Anfield for 28 years. The club was now competing in the era of
the Premier League and Manchester United were at the beginning of a sustained
era of domination of English football. Despite winning the League Cup
in 1995, the first silverware in three years, it seemed clear that Roy
Evans would not be able to deliver what the fans on the Kop wanted most
- the League title. During the summer of 1998, the club was announced
that Evans' duties would be shared by Frenchman Gerard Houllier. The second
time in Liverpool FC's history that it would have joint managers. It would
not be a happy partnership and one that would not last long.

After and initial appearance
that the two were getting on fine it soon became clear that it was an
unsustainable situation. Rumours of rows over team selections and tactics
began to surface. Following some disappointing results Roy Evans had had
enough and quit in November 1998 thus leaving a clear run for Gerard Houllier.

Gerard Houllier's Cups Runeth Over

Gerard Houllier would not
be able to deliver the Premier League title but be did manage to create
his own bit of Liverpool FC history in the 2000/01 season when his Anfield
team won a unique treble of cups. He and his team won the League Cup,
the FA Cup, and the UEFA Cup. They also finished third in the League thus
qualifying for the European Champions League in the following season.
Despite this remarkable achievement, and winning a further League Cup
in the 2002/03, Houllier's days were numbered. Many fans did not like
his defensive tactics and when he could not build upon his cup triumphs
by winning the League title he was dismissed at the end of the 2003/2204
season.

Rafael Benitez Brings Back European Glory
to Liverpool FC

Spaniard Rafael Benitez
replaced the Frenchman Gerard Houllier as Liverpool FC manager at the
start of the 2004/05 season. Houllier had left Benitez a legacy of qualification
for the Champions League in that season. Liverpool had a very poor Premier
League campaign finishing in fifth place, outside of the Champions League
places. To make matters worse they finished 37 points behind the champions
Chelsea and three points behind Everton. This was the first time in the
history of the Premier League that their Merseyside rivals had finished
ahead of Liverpool. But there was to be some consolation - and what consolation
it was.

Miracle of Istanbul

In 2005 Liverpool FC took
part in one of the most amazing finals ever in the history of European
football. Having narrowly eclipsed Chelsea in the semi final Liverpool
lined up to play Italian giants AC Milan in the Champions League Final
in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. With one minute gone in the match
Liverpool were 1-0 down as an unmarked Paolo Maldini scored from a Pirlo
free-kick. Things got much worse for the Merseyside team as Crespo scored
twice within a five minute spell just before half time. There looked to
be no way back for Liverpool FC as their first half performance was so
inept.

Seven minutes into the
second half the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard pulled one back to give
the Reds a glimmer of hope. The glimmer ignited as Vladimir Smicer added
a second goal just two minutes later. Unbelievably Xabi Alonso equalised
three minutes after that. An amazing comeback that had Liverpool FC fans
all over the World enraptured and Milan fans totally perplexed.

The match descended into
a very cagey affair that went to extra time and then to a penalty shoot-out.
The Italians missed their first two penalties and when Jerzy Dudek saved
their fifth penalty from Andriy Shevchenko Liverpool FC, and their fans
were in pure ecstasy as Europe's top football prize returned to Anfield
for the fifth time in the history of the club.

It would have been almost
impossible to match the events of the miracle of Istanbul but Liverpool
did add further silverware to the trophy room in the next season. The
Reds took on West Ham United in the FA Cup Final on 13 May 2006 at the
Millennium Stadium. Amazingly yet another cup final involving Liverpool
FC ended up with a 3-3 score line and went to penalties. Yet again Liverpool
prevailed winning 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out.

Liverpool under Rafael
Benitez reached another Champions League final in 2007 against AC Milan.
Unfortunately for the Reds fans Milan won 2-1.

Liverpool FC Change of Ownership Brings
Strains with Benitez

In 2007 new American owners
Tom Hicks and George Gillett brought a new air of uncertainty into the
club. After an initial demonstration of support by providing funds to
purchase players like Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano, tensions
between Benitez and the American owners became public knowledge. Transfer
wrangles over various players, including Gareth Barry and Robbie
Keane, led to questions about who really managed the team. On the
football pitch Liverpool FC had their best ever finish in the Premier
League in the 2008/09 as the Merseysiders finished in second place, four
points behind champions Manchester United.

At the beginning of the
next season Most observers and fans believed that Liverpool were on the
verge of a major breakthrough and that the Club could deliver the much
coveted Premier League title for the first time in it's history. Unfortunately
the reverse happened, Liverpool went backwards. They finished seventh
in the League, suffered early exits in the two domestic cup competitions,
and failed to get out of the group stages of the Champions League. Despite
being just one year into a five year contract, Benitez had lost a lot
of the support of the fans and the American owners moved to dismiss him
in June 2010.

Roy Hodgson Becomes Liverpool FC Manager

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson
was recruited as manager of Liverpool FC in July 2010.

List of Honours Won by Liverpool FC

Liverpool FC has a hugely
impressive list of honours won over the years that is only surpassed by
Lancashire rivals Manchester United. Although Liverpool had won the League
title on five separate occasions the real silverware rush began with Bill
Shankly in the mid-1960's, reached a peak under Bob Paisley, and has tapered
off ever since.